Needless to say, Eun-Mi never brought me sushi, and my missions on giving Xiumin food has been a flop this week. He hasn’t taken anything, in fact I hardly see him eat. Half the time, Kris takes the food that I make.

Since a week has past though, the swelling and bruising has gone down a lot so I don’t need to cake make up on my face anymore. Today is just going to be another day. No one will come to the Gucci store except rich, snobby people who don’t give a damn about me. At least the pay is good.

I decide to stack more purses on the shelf along with the new fall line boots that came in.

“Hey Cha-Sook, I need you to place these jackets on the racks over on the other side of the store,” Tao says, handing me a box.

“Oh, okay.” I say. Tao turns around to leave, but I quickly say, “Hey, I have a question?”

“Hmmm? What could it possibly be?” Tao says, sounding very annoyed.

“Well, the thing is,” my voice goes down to a whisper as Tao leans in closer, “does Xiumin seem a little insecure about himself to you? He doesn’t seem to eat much either…”

“That? Oh, Xiumin just takes some time adjusting to new surroundings. Korea isn’t exactly the most friendly when it comes to people who are a little rounder. Xiumin isn’t fat, but I think he just feels insecure. He gained a little bit of weight when he was hired in China to be a salesman. He’ll be back to his normal self soon. You shouldn’t worry too much.”

With that, Tao left. I never really noticed Xiumin’s weight. He seemed normal to me, but then again I’ve lived in America for most of my life. I’m pretty sure my definition of fat is different from an Asian perspective.

I just shrug it off, hoping that Xiumin opens up some more to me. I go over to the clothing racks that Tao asked me to stock and begin filling them with the jackets that I’ll never be able to afford.

“Are you an idiot?!” a shrill woman’s voice screams. It was so high pitched and annoying. I turn to see where it came from to only see a skinny stick of a female standing there with a more than furious look on her face. It appears her purse’s contents on the floor. Xiumin was on the floor as well trying to pick them up and place them back into the purse.

“I apologize sincerely m’am. I-I just didn’t see you!” he quickly mutters.

“You clumsy oaf! Didn’t see me? What were you staring off into space?! Ugh, I never should have come into this store. It has such clumsy and stupid workers. Why are fat people even working in a fashion store anyway?!”

Xiumin stops picking up the stuff from the floor, but soon continued. He turned pale; however, I turned red with fury. I put up the last coat and stormed over to the woman.

“Is there a problem m’am?” I say. She just eyed me from my feet to the top of my head.

“I thought men just worked in these kinds of stores.” She merely says, and she turns her attention back to Xiumin, “Are you still picking up my stuff you fatty!” She raises her hand to strike Xiumin. He flinches to prepare for her attack..

I didn’t even let her assault Xiumin, because I stepped on her foot. The woman lets out a cry, “I said, is there a problem m’am?”

“YEAH! There’s a problem! You stepped on my foot!”

“Oh, is that all?” I say. My voice is dripping in fake kindness. I quickly grab her arm by the wrist and twist it. The woman quickly crumples to the ground, “cause I have a problem with you insulting the workers here at this store! You pompous rich people think it’s okay to just walk over us?! He made a mistake ,and he’s cleaning it up. You were about to hit him for helping you?! Be glad he does that for you since you seem unable to do that yourself!”

“Cha-Sook!” Xiumin yells, quickly standing up, “Stop it, you’re hurting her!”

I look at him and see he was pleading me to stop. I just let go of her arm. She quickly stands up and slaps my face, forcing me to backtrack into Xiumin, “You dumb !”

I quickly try to reach her to claw her eyes out, but Xiumin holds me tightly to make sure I don’t. I didn’t think this boy was this strong.

“What’s going on here?!” Kris screams walking out from his office. Tao quickly joins him.

“Oh finally, someone that I can talk to.” The woman says, “You see, this girl attacked me for no reason!”

“No reason?” Kris questions. His eyes quickly narrowed.

“Yes! She twisted my arm. I think it might be broken.” she says. That lying little weasel.

“Cha-Sook!” Kris yells.

“Y-yes sir,” I say quickly standing up and releasing myself from Xiumin’s grip.

“You’re dismissed for today.”

“What?” I whisper in disbelief.

“You heard me. You should go home for the rest of today. I’ll call you and figure out if you still have a job here.”

“B-but Mr. Wu-”

“No buts!” he shouts. I frown and take a deep breath, trying to make sure I don’t cry. It didn’t work as I let out a weird noise that sounded like mixture between a seal and a baby. I then left the store with tears streaming down my face.

As I walk out, I just hear, “Was that really necessary?!”

It was Tao’s voice. He just followed me, grabbing my arm and pulling me into his embrace, “It’s okay, Cha-Sook.” I couldn’t help but just cry my eyes out.

I was about to be fired.

~oO:Oo~

Tao took me to a cafe to try to cheer me up. I’m pretty sure I looked like a hot mess, but I explained to him what happened.

“So that woman was about to assault Xiumin?” Tao asks taking a sip of his tea.

“Y-yeah, so I stepped on her foot and twisted her arm. I didn’t break it though. I just didn’t want Xiumin to get hurt physically after being verbally attacked by her.

“I see. Well if that’s the case, I don’t think Kris will fire you.” Tao says. I just look at him with a puzzled look.

“But technically, I am in the wrong here.” I mumble, “I mean the customer is always right-”

“Not necessarily. Once Kris finds out what actually happened, you won’t lose your job.”

“Why do you like me all of a sudden?” I ask. I just play with my food with my fork, “I thought you hated me.”

“You’re unique.” Tao says with a chuckle, “I never actually thought I would like you myself, but after you risked your face to protect me shows that you actually care about people. I’m sorry I didn’t like you at first, but you’re actually a caring person aren’t you. We all have our faults so I really shouldn’t judge you on yours since you don’t judge mine.”

That was deep.

“B-besides, you’re the first female I’ve actually ever seemed to get close to.” My eyebrows furrow.

“What do you mean by that?” I ask.

“Well...I actually have a secret. I don’t even think Kris knows this about me, but I just don’t like women.”

My face goes blank as I try to process.

“Pardon?”

“I don’t like women.”

“As in…” I continue for him to finish. He gives a huge sigh and leans in closer.

“I’m gay.” He whispers.

“Oh…” was all I said, “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. So, I’m the first female friend you ever really had?”

“Yes, now hush!” Tao says blushing, “I’ll help you try to keep your job if you just don’t blab that to everyone now okay!”

I nod, “Okay. You got a deal. You know, we should totally hang outside of work. You know, maybe go to a karaoke bar like you wanted instead of a pulsabang.”

“Oooh, that sounds nice,” Tao says smiling.

I just hope after this...I get to keep my job. I would hate to be fired for trying to defend someone I care about.